Zmuda, Allison, and Violet H. Harada. "The Learning Specialist: Clarifying the Role of Library Media Specialists." Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century. Eds. Allison Zmuda and Violet H. Harada. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 23 – 43. Print.
The community of learning specialists provides admins with insight into the challenges and problems that specialists face because of system design. (24)
What Learning Specialists do: assessment and instruction with Ss; Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction; Program Development, Leadership, and Management)
School-Level factors that Impact Effectiveness Collective accountability for learning results.
Importance of collaboration - "...external accouontability cannot save a system in which staff members work in isolation from one another." (29)
Collegiality among staff
"Consensual change occurs when staff distinguishes between what they like or prefer to dofrom what actually works. (30)
Leadership Structures that Support Learning Specialists
Persistent Challenges in Collaboration between Learning Specialists and Teaching Staff
Collaboration
focus on student learning
clear, honest, empathetic dialogue
plans blend short-term tasks with big picture to motivate current and future pro. learning experiences
job of learning specialist is transparent to staff and students
Content and pedagogical expertise
Reflection and adaptability
Constant search for feedback
Own up to mistakes and be open-minded about improvement
Implications for School Library Media Specialist
Focus on Teaching and Learning
Develop Ss as critical and ethical consumers and users of information and ideas
Use computer and technology skills and tools as part of the learning process
Learning communities that connect with people and resources around the world
Collaborating with Ts to design learning environments that enable students to deal with and learn from information
Promote lifelong learning that can be applied to personal lives
Nurturing a collaborative culture
"collegial" leadership (37)
requires Ls to examine value of partnerships from standpoint of other partners(38)
Help Ts meet existing priorities - resources; technology support for info. access, data organization, teaching concepts, and creating products; cooperative problem solving
Planning and working strategically
Identify school's goals and priorities
Determine the library's contribution to the school's goals
Identify specific learning targets
Teaming with other learning specialists
"As learning specialists, they can increase the expertise of the teaching staff through the collaborative tasks they complete together, from the staff development workshops they design, and from the modeling they do in the library-classroom." (43)
Establish SL as "essential contributor to 21st-century learning and teaching and leadership" by building relationships, discussing and developing curricula, and coteaching with our classroom teachers.(6)
"Accelerate professional growth through the process of collaborating on instructional design and delivery, and teaching alongside other adults." (6)
job-embedded PD
actual Ss, real time, with Ts curriculum
improves teaching practices for new and experienced Ts (7)
Instructional partnerships = pathway to achieve leadership role(7)
Zmuda, Allison, and Violet H. Harada. "The Learning Specialist: Clarifying the Role of Library Media Specialists." Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century. Eds. Allison Zmuda and Violet H. Harada. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 23 – 43. Print.
The community of learning specialists provides admins with insight into the challenges and problems that specialists face because of system design. (24)
What Learning Specialists do: assessment and instruction with Ss; Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction; Program Development, Leadership, and Management)
School-Level factors that Impact Effectiveness
Collective accountability for learning results.
- Importance of collaboration - "...external accouontability cannot save a system in which staff members work in isolation from one another." (29)
Collegiality among staffLeadership Structures that Support Learning Specialists
Persistent Challenges in Collaboration between Learning Specialists and Teaching Staff
Collaboration
- focus on student learning
- clear, honest, empathetic dialogue
- plans blend short-term tasks with big picture to motivate current and future pro. learning experiences
- job of learning specialist is transparent to staff and students
Content and pedagogical expertiseReflection and adaptability
Implications for School Library Media Specialist
Focus on Teaching and Learning
- Develop Ss as critical and ethical consumers and users of information and ideas
- Use computer and technology skills and tools as part of the learning process
- Learning communities that connect with people and resources around the world
- Collaborating with Ts to design learning environments that enable students to deal with and learn from information
- Promote lifelong learning that can be applied to personal lives
Nurturing a collaborative culturePlanning and working strategically
Teaming with other learning specialists
"As learning specialists, they can increase the expertise of the teaching staff through the collaborative tasks they complete together, from the staff development workshops they design, and from the modeling they do in the library-classroom." (43)
Moreillon, Judi, and Susan D. Ballard. “Coteaching: A Pathway to Leadership.” Knowledge Quest 40.4 (2012): 6-9.<http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/docs/KNOW_40_4_CoEditorColumn.pdf>.
Establish SL as "essential contributor to 21st-century learning and teaching and leadership" by building relationships, discussing and developing curricula, and coteaching with our classroom teachers.(6)
"Accelerate professional growth through the process of collaborating on instructional design and delivery, and teaching alongside other adults." (6)
Instructional partnerships = pathway to achieve leadership role(7)